If you're looking for progressive alternatives to conventional methods in education, you’re not alone.
This online hub explores progressive approaches to education which are forward-thinking and aim to equip students with appropriate skills for the 21st century.
We present a variety of options so that parents/carers, teachers, students, policy makers and other professionals can make informed choices. Our directory includes a list of progressive schools and learning communities in the UK, and our Voices section showcases innovation from the state and private sectors.
We are committed to sharing the voices of key stakeholders so that together, we can reimagine education.
Why Do We Need Alternative Approaches to Education?
There are many reasons why progressive alternatives are becoming more popular, and why a growing movement of people are calling for our state education system to be reimagined.
Articles, News & Research
Are Parents Teachers? By Kimberley Cooper
Working during the pandemic as a full-time primary class teacher and being a parent with two young children, I have come to reassess these important roles and the essential connections between them. This feels especially relevant since my daughter’s and son’s bubbles were recently sent home due to cases of CV19 in the setting. As […]
Is Progressive Education Really… Progressive? By Max Hope
I like words. I think about words. I dream about words. I sometimes wake up with words, sentences and paragraphs in my head. Words explain a thousand pictures. For me, anyway. I am looking at a new website – a fabulous website – progressive education.org. I love this website. It contains so many rich ideas, […]
OK – You’re Certified, by Derry Hannam
“OK You’re certified,” said the friendly twelve-year-old boy. Throughout 25 years of advocating the democratisation of schools I have often feared these words yet when they were finally delivered the context was delightful. I was visiting the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts. The introductory tour took us to the music room. As a one-time […]
Do Students Need to “Catch Up?”
There is much talk in the news at the moment about students needing to “catch up” post Covid-19, but is this extra pressure on parents, teachers and students justified? Here’s a blog post by author and lecturer on education, parenting and human behaviour, Alfie Kohn on this subject: Is Learning “Lost” When Kids Are Out […]
20 Things I Learned About Homeschooling
Thinking about homeschooling your child? These 20 insights from Hand in Hand Parenting Instructor Lara Zane shed light on making the decision and what it takes to get a good start. When my son was nearly six, we pulled him out of the small, friendly local school where he’d been for the past two years, […]
Staff of 2030: Future-Ready Teaching
In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Staff of 2030: Future-Ready Teaching report Esther Wojcicki advocates “20% time” to introduce self-directed learning into the schedule: “This should be “innovation or ‘moon-shot’ time where students are given freedom to come up with their own idea of what they want to do, what they want to study, and how […]
‘Drill and kill’ for England’s state schools while private sector goes progressive
“As ministers persist with traditional teaching, including children sitting in rows, independent schools have switched to team and project-based learning. There’s been a huge change in the educational approach of the private sector,” says Toby Seth, headteacher at the Pocklington school foundation in Yorkshire. “Why? Because schools have had to.” Employers, he says, want new […]
I was a Teenage Governor
These papers are the reports of the first and second stages in the ‘I was a teenage governor’ project, organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research in partnership with the Citizenship Foundation and Derry Hannam – Specialist Consultant in Pupil Participation. This was intended to be used as a practical tool for any school […]
Dancing to the Algorithm, by Dr Pam Jarvis
On the day that an exams algorithm robbed a significant number of working class children of the results they needed to access their university places, I watched Jon Snow’s interview with Nick Gibb on the Channel 4 news. Looking beyond the immediate problem, it gave me a very useful insight to an accountant’s view of […]
The Wrong Environment for a Child, by Jodie Smitten Bsc Psy. PgC Autism. MBPSs.
Hold on to your seats…. This may get a bit ranty! I absolutely love my job, the autistic children I get the privilege to meet and get to know are incredible. I’ve said it before but it needs saying regularly; they are brave, resilient, and beautifully natured. This makes it all the more frustrating, overwhelming […]
The Long, Insidious Shadows of Colonialism
“There’s a virus going around. You may have heard of it. It’s highly infectious and can infect whole swathes of the population at any given time. It is not known how susceptible children are to the virus, but it has been confirmed that they can carry it, even if they show no explicit signs of […]
The Black British History You May Not Know About
This article points out that the transatlantic slave trade and the US civil rights movement are largely the only black history taught in UK schools, normally in October when we celebrate Black History Month. Melody Triumph, policy specialist at The Black Curriculum (an organisation which teaches black British history in schools) states: “lf you’re omitting […]
Voices from the Sector
Parent Voice 3
Jessica – Unschooling Mum and Educationalist Educationalist, Jessica* currently home educates her four-year old and has chosen to follow the ‘unschooling’ approach. Jessica has worked in education for nearly 20 years in a number of capacities. She has been a teacher in colleges and universities, been involved in teacher training and the design of learning […]
Parent Voice 2
Ross Mountney – Home Educator and Author Ross Mountney is a parent, home educator and author. She started her career as a teacher which she says “was a bit daft really” as she was never at ease with the school environment. That was when she began to suspect that much of what went on at school was […]
Parent Voice 1
Kirstie Gran – Parent and Trainee Holistic Family Health Coach Kirstie has a son in mainstream school and a younger daughter at home. She’s become interested in progressive education since she started studying the brain and how it develops in children. She’s currently studying to become a Holistic Family Health Coach and previously completed a […]